Just off the top of my head, Andreas Rogge makes Uilleann Pipes and he’s not a million miles away from you (in Tübingen). No idea if he does repair jobs for flutes, though.
Otherwise, I would have thought that any decent instrument repair shop with experience in repairing old instruments – alte Blockflöten, usw. – should be able to help.
Cheers,
Ed
P.S. My flute was the “bit of rod stuck in” kind. Careful tugging with ordinary (soft-nosed) pliers got the rods out fine. Putting them in involved just using fingers – the rods are rounded and just slid in fine. The fife has the same kind of thing, with one end slightly bent over. These both therefore count as “less well-made” and are therefore perfect for experimenting :=)
Yes, this is a good point Brad, and one of the reasons I suggest not trying to remove the axles if hand pressure alone won’t do the job: The method used for flaring one end is usually by way of crimping the last bit of one end of the axle. The way the crimp is done makes it very difficult for most people to tell which end is flared, and many a post has been broken out from the flute body by folks trying in vain to hammer an axel out in the wrong direction. There is a trick to making a best guess which side likely needs the pushing (if you can’t tell by looking), but it’s rather complicated to explain for flutes, sorry
Unfortunately, most of the time the axles are fit quite tight to begin with, and hand pressure alone won’t dislodge them. In the shop we typically use a special block that supports the flute, and the post, while hammering, er…tapping these posts free
If you can’t get a post axle to move relatively easily, try pushing from the other side, as Brad suggested, and if that doesn’t work the please seriously consider sending it to someone who has experience, because you really can do a fair amount of damage if you start using a hammer. Ditto when re-installing these axles
You lucked out: Most often the axles will be either flush cut, or sligthly recessed - so either way leaving nothing to grab with pliers, unlike block mounted keys.
Based on my, er, one flute experience (well we all have to start somewhere), I found oiling the post construction helped.
Obviously not tons of oil, but a little but certainly improved things.
I only needed the pliers for one rod key and used very little pressure when extracting it. I got the others out simply by pushing one end with a blunt pin of roughly the same diameter: for this one key, it wasn’t quite enough pressure.
Hm, good point. I know he doesn’t take orders for new flutes any more because he’s too busy with his Uilleann Pipes waiting list, but maybe he can fit in a small flute repair…
Anyway, no, I will not use a hammer on a flute. All, please calm down.
I only mention hammers because I’ve been told on many occasions something on the lines of:
(Damaged) Instrument owner: “I pushed and pushed, but that pin thing wouldn’t move. So I tried tapping it out.”
Me: “Tapping it out, I see. What did you use to tap with?”
Owner: “Umm, well, I did use a hammer…but only lightly!”
It’s funny how things escalate. Most people don’t intend to use too much force or the wrong tool - they start out being all gentle and conservative, but as frustration sets in, common sense starts to wane.
Anyway, just doing my part, the usual “Don’t run with scissors” bit, as a public service.
I’ve got no scissors and I’m sitting down at the moment, so I’m perfectly calm, thanks.
I’ve just succesfully repadded a little 6 key piccolo (which i picked up from ebay last month) using the shellac method without removing the keys. I used leather clarinet pads from windcraft.co.uk. The keys are post mounted and it looked like the ends of the pins were splayed into countersunk holes on the post, making them pretty much unmovable. I don’t know if this would work for every flute, but I managed to get the shellac in, melt it using a lighter and slide the pad into the cup while the key was still in place. Obviously, I had to be pretty careful about applying the heat. It was a bit fiddly, but the pads are now well seated and are sealing as they should. If your pins are firmly stuck, perhaps this might be worth a try?
I have little other experience with repairing flutes and have only been playing for a few months, so take all of this with a pinch of salt… Experienced repairers (Loren & co), is there some obvious reason not to try this that I missed?
